Not everything we write about involves people getting screwed over. Sometimes a company will go out of its way to do something nice for customers. Take the example of the Kansas family whose vandalized nativity scene is being fixed with the help of Costco.
The other day, the family came home to find two of the animals missing from the set on their front lawn.
Since the display had been purchased at Costco, the family contacted the company to inquire about replacement pieces.
“Somehow there is one left in the entire country, it is a floor model and they are going to ship those two items to us free of charge,” said the customer. “Count it as our own Christmas miracle.”
Humbug! Thieves Make Off with Animals from Family’s Nativity Scene [Fox4KC.com]
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Haven’t people learned by now that anything not bolted or chained down will get stolen by dumb, bored teenagers? They would probably be able to get the missing animals back just by going door to door and telling their neighbors what happened – someone’s lightbulb is going to light up because they know it’s something their kid would do.
I have taken this into consideration in my area. My wife loved these solar glowing butterfly lawn ornaments and one night they went poof. So when I bought the newer ones, I made sure to design a simple electric shock device based on induction. Hooked them up to the car battery so when they grab onto the ornament, el shocko!
It took two months, but I found one had been pulled out and laying on the lawn. I’d say the deterrent did its job.
I’d go 220v on their asses.
When we moved out to the country over 15 years ago, there was a rash of mailbox beatings. Kids would come by in cars with a baseball bat and repeatedly flatten your mailbox. After replacing our twice, my ex had a mailbox constructed out of steel plate. Late one night we heard a loud bonk. All mailbox smashing stopped all over the area permanently. I expect somebody broke their arm over that.
Wow. The OPs went to try and purchase a replacement and Costco did something nice for them, and your response is that the OPs were stupid because they should have gone door-to-door expecting that the teenagers’ parents would make it a happy ending. Is there some kind of Top This: OP Blame Edition contest not all of us got the memo on?
Did it occur to you that sometimes the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, and all this would do is piss off some of their neighbors while doing nothing to fix the problem (I don’t know about where you live, but where I live a lot of the ‘bored teenagers’ who pull pranks don’t shit where they eat, so to speak).
And I hope you don’t think that bolting or chaining things down will stop jerks who think stealing stuff off people’s lawns is funny.
Is there some kind of Jump To Rash Conclusions: Commenters Rant Edition contest that the rest of us missed? You’re grossly misinterpreting my words. I didn’t say the OPs were stupid (YOU were the one assuming I said this), I said that it’s very possible the neighbors would know who did it if they asked – it’s awesome that Costco is sending them replacement pieces, and I hope the replacement pieces don’t disappear. I meant to imply that figuring out who did it might be a way of getting to the root of the problem.
You also said “Haven’t people learned by now that anything not bolted or chained down will get stolen by dumb, bored teenagers?” Yeah, that’s *not* in any way a suggestion that the OPs were dumb for putting out a Nativity scene on their lawn. Also, I’m the Fairy Clinkerbell.
I would assume the OPs figured the easiest way to deal with their problem would be to just buy new pieces. Going door-to-door in the hopes that maybe some teenager who lives nearby was the culprit AND that their parents would know about it and make them fess up may not have been the wisest use of their time.
This type of customer focus is precisely why I’m willing to pay $200 more for a LED TV at Costco vs. another local big box store. As much as I despise the receipt checking, I apprecite the service provided by Costco.
Yeah, I’m with you. I figure I’ve agreed to the receipt checking by signing up, and to the extent that it does deter theft, it keeps things cheap for me, so I don’t worry about it. They really do have excellent customer service, and the knowledge that if I have a problem with something, I can return it without a hassle is worth quite a bit to me. The only thing that bugs me is that it’s basically impossible to find space in the parking lot of my nearby Costco on weekends— to the point that everyone resorts to slowly stalking people who are walking to their cars.
You can’t really bitch about their receipt checking because you agree to it by buying a membership
Sure you can, it’s still shitty…you just have to deal with it because you agree to (unlike Walmart/BB)
Someone stole a camel from my grandparents’ nativity scene a few years ago (and that thing was ridiculously heavy). It was handmade and had been in our family for a few generations. They did a local news story on it and it was back the next day with an apology note on it.
Some kid’s grandmother probably spotted it under the bed and shamed them into giving it back. Never underestimate the power of angry grannies.
Well that’s nice. They probably thought it was some cheap camel bought with the set or something. After seeing it was a family heirloom they brought it back. Wish more people were like that.
Had a blackpowder rifle that has been in my family for over 200 years, worth thousands, get stolen from us a few years ago. My dad was heartbroken. Hopefully I’ll get a raise next year and can afford to buy him an nice antique one from 19th century or so. It won’t be the same, but it’ll mean the world to him because it’ll be from his son.
Nice. But sad that someone steals such things.
50 bucks says the UPS delivery guy throws the package from his speeding truck and breaks the new nativity pieces.
I just had a flashback of playing Paperboy and throwing newspapers at tombstones.
I live in kansas and wish I had a costco in the area. sounds like a magical place.
they are my friend, and they have great prices on unicorns, way better than sam’s club and a cut above BJ’s
What’s a cut above BJ? doesn’t sound entirely pleasant.
Can you buy rainbows there? I’m interested in buying two.
This is typical of Costco’s excellent customer service.
Costco is a membership warehouse club, so it’s not your typical retail outlet.
I love Costco and AMEX. My favorite companies ever
kudo’s to costco…
kudo’s to costco. now make sure you secure these items, so this does’nt happen again.
Jesus.
No no, Jesus was unharmed. It was the animals that got stolen. ;3
Yay, Costco!